


Evil Overlord Sheppard Visits Atlantis

by graceandfire



Series: Evil Overlord Sheppard [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-27
Updated: 2010-02-27
Packaged: 2017-10-07 14:19:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graceandfire/pseuds/graceandfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU fic where John Sheppard is ruler of a planet in the Pegasus galaxy.  Takes place right after the first story where Rodney's team was taken captive by John's soldiers. This sequel starts with Sheppard visiting Atlantis on an ambassadorial mission. Warnings for snark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Rodney McKay watched the Stargate flare out in the glowing blue rush of scientific miracle that never failed to fill him with a quiet awe no matter how many times he saw it. Well, to qualify, it never failed to fill him with awe as long as he wasn’t running frantically towards its offer of escape from a) angry natives throwing spears b) angry natives shooting guns c) angry local predators or d) in one very memorable case, angry mobile vegetation.

As today there were, thankfully, no angry people, animals or mobile plants in sight, Rodney could take the time to fully appreciate both the aesthetic beauty as well as the beautiful science of the stable wormhole as the stargate’s event horizon settled into the serene pool that signified it was time for their journey back to Atlantis.

As he waited for the order to go, Rodney resisted the urge to turn and stare at Evil Overlord, or, as he had taken to calling him more recently, John Sheppard. He’d made the name change about the time he’d come in an orgasm that was in his top five list of best orgasms, _ever_. It had been the first best for a total of, oh, about twenty minutes until it had been blown away by round two. It had been jockeying for position in an ever growing list of incredible orgasms ever since. And oh, great, he was getting hard just thinking about it.

Shifting uncomfortably he gave in and shot a look over at John Sheppard, High Lord of Leiath. The man was standing loose limbed and confident, one hand resting easily on the sidearm strapped at his waist, the other tapping against his thigh and he was smirking at Rodney as if he knew exactly what was going through Rodney’s hyperactive mind. Rodney quickly looked away and focused back on the Stargate, running through several complex polynomial calculations. Nope, not working.

As he watched Ford finish up preparations Rodney gave up on distractions and instead started plotting how soon he could get Sheppard to have sex with him again. Also, how long the three crates of coffee Sheppard was bringing along as a goodwill gift for his ambassadorial trip would last and how much Rodney could claim as his share. He figured that being head scientist _and_ being one of the team to negotiate the pre-treaty should mean he got a bigger cut, it was only right. He had to be careful though. Coffee was getting dangerously low in Atlantis and scientists were sneaky bastards. He would have to carefully plot to make sure he was allotted his proper share. This was in addition to the coffee stuffed into his backpack of course. No one needed to know about that stash but him and the High Lord who gave it to him.

“Okay people, time to go!” Ford, in full military mode, motioned the party forward and led the way, stepping through first, followed by half of his men as had been agreed upon during the negotiations leading up to this little ambassadorial trip for Sheppard. There had been all sorts of negotiations to get to this point. For one thing Sheppard’s aide Garreth had been **extremely** unhappy with the idea of his High Lord gating to another world. And that man? Could give Sumner a run for his money on how _not_ to smile. Also, Rodney had an uneasy feeling that the aide knew exactly what Rodney and Sheppard had been up to in the High Lord’s Rooms before, after, and in between meetings. And disapproved. A _lot_. This was bad given that Garreth was a very intimidating career soldier who could possibly kill Rodney with his eyebrows.

Fortunately, Rodney had spent most of his career surrounded by intimidating military types who for absurd reasons didn’t seem to like him and, while mental infants, could physically squash him like a bug. Years of practice had helped Rodney ignore the aide’s menacingly icy attitude and instead watch with interest as John Sheppard had somehow stood mellow but firm against the older soldier’s every argument (and impressive use of acid sarcasm). Watching the interactions, Rodney had thoughtfully filed away the fact that apparently his lover’s easy going smile—and thatch of messy hair which made him look more like a grad student than an Evil Overlord—covered up a will of naquada enhanced titanium.

Elizabeth, upon hearing Ford and Rodney’s endorsements about the technology of the Leiaths and--Rodney smiled a happy, happy smile--the coffee, had wholeheartedly endorsed a potential trade agreement and also agreed to the compromise of an armed escort for the High Leader. She had also, much more reluctantly, agreed to four of the Atlantean away team staying on Leiath as ‘guests’ until Sheppard’s safe return. Rodney was sure Sumner and Elizabeth had ended up having some interesting discussions over _that_ one. The only reason they had finally agreed was that the four soldiers remaining behind had been completely in favour of the idea. They had stressed the importance of the treaty and their duty as soldiers and bleah, bleah, bleah but Rodney had a suspicion their extreme willingness also had a lot to do with the fact that the soldiers of Leiath had turned pretty damn friendly once Sheppard changed the status of the Atlantis away team from prisoners to honoured guests. Apparently while Rodney was busy letting himself be seduced by Sheppard and talking to the Leiath scientists, the soldiers were all bonding over wrestling bouts, guns and some game called Maka.

Between the soldiers’ enthusiasm and the potential threats they were facing from other corners of this galaxy, Elizabeth had gracefully caved. Especially since these people were the best technological match they had met since their, so far, one way trip to Pegasus; in fact the Leiath’s technology appeared to be superior in some ways. And if they were going to stay and hopefully thrive they were going to need allies. Because apparently this galaxy came with its own hand-dandy supervillains in the form of life force sucking monster aliens. Who knew you could miss the goa’uld? Every single planet they’d been to so far had mentioned them, a grim dread in their voices, and it seemed to only be a matter of time before the Atlantis expedition encountered them in person, so to speak.

Rodney watched with rising alarm as Sheppard ambled over toward him, the man’s easy smile immediately causing all the blood in Rodney’s body to travel south. Oh God, he had to get over this. He was having sex with a hot alien Overlord. Which, very cool. But he had to focus on his job here. They needed this trade agreement to work. He _needed_ that coffee. And the technology of course.

Sheppard reached him and offered a smirk. “After you,” he gave a sort of half-bow and arm-wave towards the Stargate which Ford had just disappeared through that would have looked silly on someone less graceful. Rodney half grimaced back and, adjusting his backpack, walked forward through the portal, fully cognizant of Sheppard following a step behind. He half stumbled out of the event horizon, taking in the familiar sight of the SGA Gateroom as he walked heavily down the ramp before turning to watch Sheppard stride down after him flanked by his security team and negotiators, the man looking cool, poised and very, very fuckable.

Elizabeth and Sumner were waiting soberly at the foot of the ramp and Elizabeth immediately moved forward to greet the delegation once everyone had come safely through and the gate had shut down.

“High Overlord Sheppard,” Elizabeth smiled warmly at the man, and, in full Ambassadorial mode, held out her hand in greeting. “Welcome to Atlantis. My name is Doctor Elizabeth Weir and it is a great pleasure to meet you.”

Sheppard immediately smiled back, the charm he seemed to wear like a second skin kicking into full gear in the wry quirk of his smile and crinkling of his eyes as he took Elizabeth’s hand and raised it for a kiss that had Rodney’s eyes narrowing with displeasure.

“Thank you Doctor Weir,” Sheppard drawled out. “I assure you the pleasure’s all mine.” He studied the lovely Atlantis expedition leader and his smile flashed wider. “And please, call me John.”

Elizabeth’s own smile grew as she was charmed in spite of herself. “Then you must call me Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth,” Sheppard nodded as if ‘Elizabeth’ was just the most perfect name _ever_. Rodney suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, yes, very friendly. How _not_ surprising.

His interest sharpened as Sheppard turned his attention to Colonel Sumner. Rodney wasn’t at all surprised that Elizabeth seemed to like Sheppard. Sheppard was charming. _God_, Sheppard was charming. And Elizabeth was easy. Okay, not easy, easy, in any bad way but easy, as in, ready to like and trust the friendly aliens until they proved themselves to be soul-sucking fiends, easy. Now if Sheppard could charm the ‘Colonel of Doom’ then Rodney was really going to have to strap the High Lord to a table in the science lab until he could find some way to duplicate the man’s charisma. Oh God. Sheppard strapped down. Rodney winced and shifted. Bad image. Bad image. Concentrate.

Sumner had been standing next to Elizabeth with an impassive expression on his weathered face. As Sheppard shifted his focus to the other man, his own smile faded and assumed a more serious tone to match Sumner’s. The two studied each other; Sumner’s eyes faintly challenging, Sheppard’s completely neutral. Finally, Sumner nodded a curt greeting. “Colonel Marshall Sumner, Head of Military Operations in Atlantis.”

Sheppard nodded back in exactly the same way. “John Sheppard. High Lord of Leiath.”

Sumner’s eyes narrowed, his focus on the other man tightening. “I’m curious, High Lord,” the voice held a challenge that matched the gleam in the Colonel’s icy eyes. “Is your position an inherited one or an appointed one?”

Rodney watched Sheppard smile coolly in response. “Well, I guess you could say it’s a combination of both, Colonel. I inherited the title when my father and older brother passed away.” His tone was still sober but a glint of humour appeared in his eyes. “But on my world, if the people don’t think you’re fit to rule you don’t rule.”

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow in surprise at this, clearly interested in the governmental workings of another world. “There’s an electoral procedure then?” She asked curiously before Sumner could comment.

Sheppard glanced over at her, his smile warming into a rueful grin. “Well, I guess you could say that,” he confirmed. “Leiaths are a pretty straightforward people. If my subjects didn’t think I was fit to rule I would have had a little ‘accident’ before my formal takeover.” He turned and shot a look over his shoulder at the member of his security detail on his right. “Isn’t that right Boyd?”

Boyd, another hulking soldier who looked like he must have the IQ of a turnip, blinked at being the sudden focus of attention. He tilted his big square head as if to give the question its proper consideration. “Well,” he finally mused, his voice a deep bass that was surprisingly smooth and cultured, “it was a pretty close vote High Lord. But, I’d have to say that, at least for the guards, it weighed heavily in your favour that you’re so bad at Maka. We figured that, being High Lord and all, you’d have more money to lose.”

Sheppard’s eyes narrowed at the guard who possessed the rather impressive ability to stare back with an impassive stone face while at the same time conveying an invisible smirk. Rodney was also pretty sure that he heard Ford muffling a snicker.

“I am _not_ bad at Maka.”

Having addressed the insult, Sheppard turned back to smile dryly at the two Atlantean leaders. “As you can see the title High Lord gets a lot of respect.”

Elizabeth’s right eyebrow had shot up in surprise at Sheppard’s comments and his exchange with the Leiath soldier. Her own smile at their interaction was hastily stifled but Rodney could tell she was amused and also curious about just how truthful Sheppard was being.

“I see. That’s a very, uh, straightforward approach,” Elizabeth finally murmured, smiling with just the right degree of political correctness. Rodney rolled his eyes. Diplomacy at its finest.

Sumner had apparently decided Sheppard was not an immediate threat and actually relaxed enough to smile. Well, okay he sort of moved the corners of his lips up. Definitely need to talk to Sheppard about donating his charisma to science. Not thinking about strapping Sheppard to a table. Not thinking about…dammit.

Elizabeth, having recovered from her surprise at Sheppard’s description of Leiath politics, gestured for Carson to join their party. “John, may I introduce Carson Beckett, the head of our medical team. As we discussed previously, we do require all off-world guests as well as returning away team members to receive a medical exam before being cleared for the rest of Atlantis.” Her tone was slightly apologetic but firm.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you High Lord,” Carson offered in his softly pleasant burr as he approached, beaming genially at Sheppard or—what Rodney decided to start calling privately—his Interstellar Overlord Sex Babe, offering his hand in greeting.

“Doctor,” Sheppard returned, his expression easy going and friendly as he shook the proffered hand.

“Ah, if you’ll follow me High Lord, the medical facilities are right this way. Now, let me assure you that it should be a painless procedure and it shouldna’ take long.” Carson deferentially indicated the direction and the two began to move towards the nearest transporter, Sheppard’s guard detail and Rodney and the rest of the away team following.

Sheppard and his team looked around them with interest as they walked, taking in the tech and the gleaming hallways of Atlantis, making polite conversation with Carson. Once they reached the medical labs, the Doctor gestured Sheppard towards the Ancient’s version of an MRI machine. The other doctors and nurses on duty started checking Rodney, Ford and the others out while Sheppard let himself be led towards the table. Before he could reach it Boyd inserted himself between Sheppard and the machine. “High Lord, I’ll do this test first.” His tone was firm and carried a hint of ‘which you damn well should have _known_.’

Rodney watched with interest to see if Sheppard would argue with his soldier but he merely shrugged good naturedly and backed away, letting the other man take his place.

“Right then,” Carson nodded a bit nervously, clearly a bit overwhelmed by the presence of a genuine interplanetary High Lord. Rodney smugly brought up images of the High Lord going down on him last night. His High Lord. His interplanetary Overlord Sex Babe. His…”Ow! Watch it!” He snarled at the nurse who shot him an evil glare in return. Rodney was not popular with the infirmary nurses for some reason. It wasn’t his fault the nursing staff consisted of incompetent morons and that he had told them so. Several times.

“So what do you think of our base so far?” Ford asked Sheppard. The young lieutenant had managed to bond with Sheppard during their little stay on Leiath. Not surprising since the younger man had the enthusiasm of a puppy dog and a gung ho attitude for all things military. Apparently being High Lord counted as military in Ford’s book. The fact that Sheppard seemed equally enthralled with Ford irritated Rodney immensely. Sheppard was _his_ Evil Overlord.

Sheppard grinned at Ford in response to the man’s question. “Well,” he answered dryly, “the gate room was very pretty and the hallway was extremely impressive as hallways go…”

Ford laughed, boyish feature lighting up. “Once we get you checked out of here and you have your first sit down meeting with Colonel Sumner and Doctor Weir, we’ll arrange for the royal tour. Trust me, Sheppard, Atlantis is amazing.”

“Well, I look forward to seeing it, Lieutenant,” Sheppard smiled again and Rodney felt his eyes narrow in response.

Right, time to nip this puppy crush thing in the bud. Rodney stood up, shaking off the irritating nurse at his side and smiled condescendingly at Ford. “Yes, yes, that’s an excellent idea Lieutenant and I have a full tour planned for the High Lord.” _His_ High Lord.

Ford blinked at Rodney in surprise. “Uh, I think it would make more sense for me to take the High Lord on his tour Doctor McKay. After all he’s a military commander and I…”

“Being the leader of his people I’m sure the High Lord is interested in all aspects of Atlantis, Lieutenant.” Rodney waved his hand dismissively in the air.

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Right, good…everything is settled then,” Rodney brushed aside Ford’s protest and turned his attention back to Sheppard who was watching him with amusement.

“I am interested in all aspects of Atlantis,” Sheppard said mildly. “I’m sure Dr. McKay will be an excellent tour guide of the main areas of Atlantis,” his smile widened at the obvious doubt on Ford’s face. “But I’d really like to see the armoury and other areas which are more geared towards your military contingent. If it’s allowed that is,” he said to Ford who immediately lit up with a grin.

“Sure! I, uh, just need to clear it with Colonel Sumner that is,” Ford said, face falling a little as he realized the unlikelihood of the Colonel approving a tour of their military power to an alien.

“Oh, I’m sure we can talk the Colonel around,” Sheppard assured Ford with a grin.

Rodney frowned in disapproval at the interplay. Sheppard was _his_ High Lord. Dammit.


	2. Chapter 2

John slouched down in the briefing room chair and watched the Atlanteans with sharp interest hidden behind an easy going grin. His first impression of them was cautiously positive. There was an energy they sparked off each other, a sense of purpose and teamwork, almost a sense of naivety in some ways. These were a people who had never been devastated by the Wraith, never had their hearts torn out and their futures disappear under the whining buzz and ghostly lights of Wraith darts.

John’s own people had escaped the devastating curse that plagued the peoples of Pegasus through the blessings of the Ancestors and their own combination of stubbornness, ruthlessness and sheer, dumb luck. But even they had lost people, made sacrifices, had to keep a strict control on their population. They had still grown up with the grim knowledge of what was out there; what was _always_ out there. These people though. They shone with such optimism it was scary to those who knew better.

John watched Elizabeth Weir, the leader. He liked her. Hey, she was a likeable woman. But more than that, she was vivid; filled with more enthusiasm than you usually found in the dry, dusty world of diplomacy and negotiations. And of course she was beautiful—wow, she was beautiful—with passion and strength sculpted in her bones and eyes that shone with an infectious desire to _learn_. So he liked her. It wouldn’t keep him from being ruthless in the interests of his people.

Well…it would keep him from it a little.

Now Colonel Marshall Sumner was a complete _lack_ of surprise. The man was every humourless officer John had ever known who disapproved of anything that wasn’t by the book, by the regs, by the code; a hard ass through and through. John had grown up with the High Lord of hard asses so he knew the type well and he gave an internal shrug over the man. Being suspicious was the Colonel’s job and John had no problem with the man for doing it. Whether there was anything else worth knowing beneath Sumner’s suspicious eyes and rigid military spit and polish, John would have to wait and see.

John’s eyes slid easily, naturally to Rodney and he had to suppress a grin. Rodney McKay, he had come to realize in the short period of time they’d known each other (in pretty much every biologically possible way) was unique in this or any other galaxy. The man was excitable, irritable, arrogant and awkward in a way that just shouldn’t be sexy but somehow was. Oh yeah, and he was scary, brilliant. Even John’s own scientists had ended up in awe of McKay; pissed off, but in awe. Since meeting McKay, John had found himself by turns amused, turned on, irritated and sometimes all three at once. Rodney…was a challenge. John wasn’t used to the feeling and he found it much more fascinating than he really should. He didn’t know what the hell they were doing together or whether it would help this potential alliance or screw it the fuck up but he was all in, Ancestors help him.

They were sitting in a light airy conference room, the walls transparent, with the gate room visible below. As the meeting attendees settled, John felt the humming in his head flare up briefly and examined it thoughtfully in his head. The weird nudging at the back of his mind had started the moment he’d stepped out of the gate and into the Ancient’s castle. It was a mental caress, a humming at the base of his skull, an over enthusiastic lullaby. It didn’t feel wrong or evil or like an attempt at mind control and maybe John should have felt more worried than he did. But what it really felt like was…a welcome.

He wanted to ask if any of the Earthlings felt it. A whispered aside to Boyd had elicited the knowledge that none of his team did. This response had been accompanied by a concerned look from Boyd and a delicately worded inquiry as to the state of the High Lord’s mental health. This had earned Boyd a narrow eyed glare which had, unfortunately, bounced right off of his impervious bodyguard. Too bad they didn’t do executions much anymore. Not that John would but, heh, the threat would be kind of useful.

The other members of the negotiating team finished settling and when Elizabeth smiled brightly across at John and his team he forced the whispering down so he could focus.

********************************************

The negotiations were going just about as well as first negotiations _could_ go, Rodney supposed. He’d gotten used to doing the whole yadda, yadda diplomacy thing on his missions with Ford and it was amazing how many times they seemed to end in ‘run away, run away, oh Jesus, _fuck,** run away**_!_’_ But so far no one had pulled a weapon, no one had accidentally insulted anyone else’s mother (that had _not_ been Rodney’s fault; she had _looked _like a man), and no one had gotten generally huffy and stalked away with their toys, refusing to play anymore. Points all around.

“You might want to try the Athosians,” John was adding. The discussions were centered around food right now which…boring. Okay, yes, it was important in that…food. Food was vitally necessary for his, their, survival. Hopefully really, really good tasting food. But…actual negotiations for food? Bo…ring.

“The Athosians,” Elizabeth was frowning down at the table as if trying place the name. “I…believe I’ve heard the name. Wait,” her head came back up and she sent a questioning glance to Sumner. “Weren’t the Athosians on the first planet that we visited?”

Rodney looked up in sudden interest. He remembered that mission. Not that he’d been _on_ that mission. He’d been too busy running around Atlantis trying to conserve power and save everyone’s ungrateful lives. Of course, technically he’d failed and it was the city itself that had saved them by triggering fail safes; rising to the top of the ocean when the shields had finally begun their final collapse. But…he was sure he would have thought of _something_ before they’d all died.

Sumner had a vaguely disdainful look on his face, thinly hidden under a military stone façade. “We met them. They were useless to us. No tech. Simple hunter/gatherer types.” His brows furrowed in recall. “There was an abandoned city that looked promising but it didn’t pan out.”

Rodney caught the flash of disdain Sheppard shot at Sumner. It was just an instant from beneath hooded eyes and his expression quickly returned to its prior bland, twinkling projection of ‘I am hot and not too bright, please try to seduce me while I barter you out of everything you own.’ But it had been there.

When Sheppard spoke, his voice was mild. “The Athosians are a worthy people. They’re strong warriors, clever farmers and fair traders. If they like you that is.” Vaguely implied in his tone to Sumner was…’but apparently you fucked that last part up. _Moron_.’ Or maybe Rodney was projecting.

Maybe not though because Elizabeth placed a quick, restraining hand on Sumner and smiled winningly back at Sheppard. “Ah, perhaps if we had a mutual ally to help us re-build relations with the Athosians we might find ourselves in an arrangement which would benefit us all.”

Sheppard hesitated and, after a moment, nodded cautiously. “If our negotiations go well and I believe it’s in the best interests of the Athosians then I’d be willing to help you broker a trade agreement with them.”

Sumner’s jaw tightened but he kept his mouth shut. Three months in Pegasus without a sign of a ZPM had changed everyone’s priorities, even the Colonel’s. Whereas before their interests had focused purely on finding technically advanced allies and searching for ZPM’s, the grim truth was that this was turning out to be a one way trip and finding a steady supply of food was becoming a top priority.

“That would be much appreciated,” Elizabeth nodded warmly at Sheppard and no one at the table missed the warning squeeze she gave Sumner’s wrist before letting go.

**********************************************************

“Well, that went well…” Sheppard said mildly as he walked with Rodney down the long, gleaming corridors of Atlantis, two of his guards trailing discreetly behind with two of Sumner’s marines trailing right behind _them_. It was too crowded by far in Rodney’s disgruntled opinion. How was he supposed to get Sheppard alone to have hot, sweaty, sex if they were followed by Neanderthals all day long?

Rodney rolled his eyes at Sheppard’s comment. “I suppose. It definitely could have been worse. There was that time the natives of planet M49-648 wanted to trade two yaks for Ford.” At least, they had _looked_ like Yaks.

Sheppard grinned back. “Hey that sounds like a pretty good deal. And they offered two? Ford should be flattered.”

“Oh, yes, I’ll be sure to mention that to him,” Rodney smirked, and remembering the look on Ford’s face at the suggested offer decided he _would_ tell the Lieutenant just to see if the look on his face came back.

They walked on and Rodney remembered he was supposed to be doing the tour guide thing. “Uh, so these are, uhm, more corridors,” Rodney waved his hand vaguely.

John sent him a side glance, amused. “Gee and Ford was worried you wouldn’t make a good tour guide.”

“What!? These are corridors. No one can make corridors interesting,” Rodney defended himself.

“Uh huh. So when do we get to see something _besides_ the not interesting corridors?” John asked pointedly.

Rodney let a smug smile slide into place as they reached the ship bay. “How about, oh, right now?”

Rodney watched John’s face as the other man took in the gleaming ships sitting snugly in the vaulted room, the slow spreading smile of appreciation which took over his face; the gleam of excitement that hit his eyes and for a moment made him look like an overgrown kid. “_Nice_,” John huffed out an appreciative breath. “What do these babies do? Are they interplanetary or atmospheric?”

“They’re both,” Rodney said proudly. “And they fly through the gates. They’re gate ships.”

John stopped his appreciative viewing of the crafts long enough to shoot Rodney a frowning glance. “Gate ships? You call them gate ships?”

“Well, yes,” Rodney said, face falling a little at the hint of disapproval he thought he detected. “They’re, well, ships,” he held out one hand. “And they fly through gates,” he held out the second hand. “Gate ships,” he brought the two hands together.

“Okay.”

“What? What okay?” Rodney scowled now, disgruntled. “What’s wrong with gate ships?”

“Nothing,” John answered, tone easy and bland, immediately causing Rodney’s eyes to narrow.

“Well what would _you_ have called them?” Rodney asked, disgruntled.

John stood back, head cocked as he studied the stubby yet somehow beautiful crafts that were calling to him like a siren. “Little beauties like these?” He arched a brow in consideration before nodding decisively. “Puddle jumpers.”

“Puddle jumpers!? That’s a stupid name,” Rodney protested. “They’re ships! They go through gates! There are no puddles _or _jumping involved.”

John just rolled his eyes. “Whatever Rodney. They’re your ships. If you want to call them gate ships then they’re gate ships.”

“There’s nothing wrong with gate ships,” Rodney muttered as they approached one of the crafts. “It’s a logical name.”

“It’s a very nice name,” John soothed and Rodney rolled his eyes and snapped “oh shut up, do you want to go in one or not?”

“I _definitely_ want to see the insides of a ‘gate ship’,” John nodded solemnly.

“Fine,” Rodney snapped before he brightened and looked back at the annoyingly large military escort. “Oh. Sorry!” he said cheerfully. “Not enough room for everyone. The High Lord and I will just, uh, check it out alone. You men can wait out here.” At the unhappy looks of both sets of soldiers his cheerful tone dropped away and, scowling, he snapped “oh come on. We’re going to be mere meters away. It’s not like I’m a pilot.” Even with the induced Ancient gene from Carson’s gene therapy, the one time he’d try to pilot a gate ship had been such a disaster he’d been barred by Sumner from trying again.

The Atlantis soldiers rolled their eyes but stayed as did the Leiath soldiers after a nod from Sheppard. The two men entered the ship and John immediately moved up to sit in the pilot’s chair. “Nice,” he said admiringly. “You think we’d be able to take one up later?”

“Uhm, I suppose,” Rodney said, considering. He’d just need to get a pilot in here.

“So this is a ship of the Ancestors, huh?” Sheppard asked, neck craning as he moved his head back and forth to take it all in.

“Yes. It’s, uh, it’s very cool actually,” Rodney smiled at the chance to discuss Ancient tech. “A lot of Ancient technology is based on thought control and, while we’re still studying the applications and interaction between machinery and…” and then Rodney jumped as the panels suddenly lit up.

“Hey that _is_ cool!” John smiled in sheer pleasure, green eyes crinkling with boyish glee. “So you did that with your mind?”

“Uh, no…” Rodney said, frowning at the happily glowing panel. “Actually, _I_ didn’t.” Which meant that …he slowly turned to look at the High Lord of Leiath, there was only one other person left who could have.

“You have the Ancient gene!” Rodney accused Sheppard, causing the other man to look over at him, arching an eyebrow quizzically.

“I do?” Sheppard blinked and then shrugged before turning his attention back to the lit up display of the gate ship. “I don’t think so.” He raised a hand to tap at a brightly lit panel. “What’s the ancient gene?”

Rodney’s eyes narrowed in outrage at the dumb act. “If you don’t know what it is then how can you possibly know you don’t have it?” he snapped. “It’s genetics! You’ve got the same genetic makeup as the Ancients. Or at least as close as we get nowadays.” Rodney corrected himself. “Wait a minute, why do you have the gene?” he frowned. “So far no one we’ve encountered in Pegasus seems to have the gene.”

Sheppard shrugged, looking unconcerned at being an anomaly. “Galaxy’s a big place. Maybe you just haven’t met the right people yet. So,” he grinned suddenly, zeroing in on the true import of McKay’s words. “Does that mean I can fly this ship?”

Rodney rolled his eyes. He’d already discovered from his time on Leiath that Sheppard had a thing for anything that flew. “Probably,” Rodney admitted. “We don’t know how strong your gene is but most everyone who has the gene can.”

“So you people all have the gene?” John asked as he frowned at the console and another display popped up, this time looking like it held map coordinates.

“Well…no. Actually very few of us have it naturally but Carson, uh, Dr. Beckett, is a geneticist and he developed a way to inoculate people with the gene.”

“Really?” Sheppard turned and gave Rodney an impressed look that seemed sincere. “That’s some pretty high science. So why don’t you all have the gene then?”

“It only works on about half of our people and it doesn’t seem to be as effective in all respects as actually having the gene innately,” Rodney explained absently as he started really processing what it meant that Sheppard had the Ancient gene. “But very few people seem to have it naturally and even in those the strength of it seems to vary. We should test you,” Rodney said with rising enthusiasm. “We should put you in the chair.”

“Chair?” John shot Rodney a wary look. McKay sounded _way_ too enthusiastic all of a sudden. John had found in his time as ruler of Leiath that when scientists got too enthusiastic he should prepare for large explosions and excuses of “but we were _so_ close!”

“Yes, the control chair it…hey! What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” John tried to sound innocent but Rodney had already figured out that the High Lord was rarely innocent of _anything._

“Stop that! That! What you’re…hey, I didn’t know it could do that. How did you do that?”

“I just wondered if this thing came with directions,” John answered mildly. “Huh. So it says if I do this…”

“Wait! You read _Ancient_?!” Rodney shrieked. “You didn’t tell me you could read Ancient!”

“You never asked,” John shrugged, not mentioning that all of the Leiathan prophecy's were written in the language of the Ancestors. “Can _you_ read Ancient?”

“Yes!” Rodney snapped as he watched in fascination the information streaming down in front of them.

“Well, see, I didn’t know that you knew Ancient either,” John shrugged again.

“That’s not the point! Hey! Put this ship back down! **Put it down!**”


	3. Chapter 3

“Sorry about the misunderstanding,” John said mildly to the hastily reassembled conference room attendees.

“You didn’t think to share with us that you’ve got the Ancient gene?” Colonel Sumner asked, eyes dark with suspicion.

John resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “As I told Dr. McKay _and_ Dr. Beckett _and_ about seven other people, genetics isn’t one of my people’s strong suits and we don’t have a lot of the Ancestor’s technology left on our world. I didn’t know I had this Ancient gene.”

Sumner opened his mouth, no doubt to say something suspicious, and McKay hastily jumped in. “Look, that’s not the point. The point is I want Sheppard to sit in the Chair.”

“What?”

“Absolutely not.”

“High Lord, there could be risks involved…”

“Rodney, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Elizabeth rounded out the universal objections coming from the various occupants of the room.

“_I’m_ not sure that’s such a good idea,” John interjected. All he’d been able to get out of McKay about this chair so far was…chair. The man had been too intent on first making sure that John didn’t crash them into a fiery death in the jumper (they’d only been hovering a few feet off the ground for cryin’ out loud) and then too intent on freaking out about everybody freaking out. “What’s so special about this chair anyway?”

“It’s a control chair. It links in with the city’s defense systems among other things. We think it can actually control the whole city if necessary,” Rodney explained impatiently, ignoring Elizabeth’s sharp “Rodney!” and Sumner’s murderous look.

“I see,” John said slowly and for once felt totally in sympathy with the ‘about to have an embolism’ Colonel Sumner. “McKay, I can’t sit in that chair.”

“What? Why not?” Rodney moved from frowning at everyone else to just frowning at John.

“I’m the leader of a separate planet, McKay,” John said slowly, trying to spell it out in military theory even a scary obsessed scientist would understand. “You can’t let a foreign leader sit in a chair that could theoretically give said foreign leader control over your entire city. What if I’m evil?”

“I’m glad _someone_ here understands,” Sumner said, actually shooting a look of approval at John. At least the _alien_ understood.

“But you’re not evil. You’re our ally,” Rodney protested.

“Potential ally,” John corrected, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “We haven’t even signed any official treaties yet. And I know I’m not evil. But you don’t.”

“I think I would know,” Rodney insisted.

“Oh really,” Sumner shot Rodney a narrow eyed glare. “And why is that?”

“Well because…uh…” Rodney blinked, stymied for once. Now did not seem to be the time to say that he had faith in the hot extraterrestrial because he gave really, really good head.

“I…” Rodney’s voice was approaching a whine as Elizabeth jumped in with a tone that brooked no nonsense.

“Rodney, I think what we’re all trying to say here is that, _however _promising our new relationship with the Leiathans looks, it’s a little early in our relationship to give John the keys to Atlantis.”

“Yeah, maybe next trip,” John smiled, finding the whole thing amusing now.

“But…”

“No Rodney.” Elizabeth’s tone was firm and clearly meant to end the discussion.

“You have enough test subjects Doctor,” Sumner said acidly, still extremely pissed off that McKay was going around spilling secrets about Atlantis all the hell over the place. Damn scientists.

“But…”

“**NO!!!”  
**

****************************************************************************

It was late at night and Rodney and John were finally alone in the guest suite assigned to Sheppard. His bodyguards were right next door and not happy about it. Boyd had protested vigorously but despite being twice John’s size had been outmaneuvered by the whole High Lord thing. Rodney was happy because being alone meant…”touch it.”

“I don’t want to touch it,” there was a hint of a whine in the High Lord’s voice in addition to sounding tired and cranky.

“Don’t be such a baby, just touch it,” Rodney insisted.

“I’m getting a headache,” came the protest.

“Oh for crying out…okay, last time,” Rodney wheedled.

“Promise?”

“I promise, just _touch_ it.”

Sheppard hissed out an irritated sigh and took the latest artifact of the Ancients Rodney had smuggled into the suite.

It immediately lit up and Rodney practically hummed with pleasure as he quickly scanned the merrily glowing artifact with several instruments he’d also smuggled in.

“Y’know if we blow ourselves up, the alliance is probably off,” John muttered, even as his own eyes couldn’t resist examining the odd, almost square object with the colorful squiggly patterns decorating the sides.

“Oh please, I only brought the stuff I’m pretty sure is safe. I left the potentially deadly weapons in the lab.”

“If you don’t know what they do then how can you know they’re not dangerous,” John pointed out. Again. They’d been having variations of this conversation for the past hour.

“I mostly know what they do,” Rodney answered. Again.

“So what does this one do?” John asked.

“Uh, it’s either a pencil sharpener or it’s a reality phase shifter.”

“Really?” John’s eyes narrowed with interest as he leaned in to study the thing.

“No,” Rodney rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t emit nearly enough energy to be a reality phase shifter.”

John shot Rodney a narrow eyed glare. “Why am I doing this again? You have this Ancient gene right? You’ve got other people with the Ancient gene. So why don’t _you_ initialize stuff?”

“I already _told _you,” Rodney said impatiently. “I’m not as strong in the gene as you obviously seem to be. That’s why it’s important to try everyone who has the gene. You seem to have a really strong pull. A lot of this stuff no one’s been able to turn on until you. I really need you to sit in the Chair.”

“I think Colonel Sumner would shoot me if I tried to sit in the Chair,” John said dryly.

“Well obviously we wouldn’t_ tell_ Sumner,” Rodney said, trying to think of a way to get John to the Chair alone. Maybe some emergency that required all the marines and scientists to go to…

“No Rodney,” John said firmly. “Remember the whole alliance thing? Remember the jovash?”

Rodney straightened up at the Leiath term for coffee. “You’re right,” he finally said reluctantly. “We should wait until we get the coffee shipment.” He reached out and took another object from his backpack. “Now touch this one.”

John studied the object Rodney was holding on the palm of one hand with narrowed eyes. Right, time to take some countermeasures or he was going to be fondling the equipment of the Ancestors all night, which, okay, that had just come out very, very wrong. But anyway, he had other things he wanted to be fondling.

“Wait, what are you…_carefu_l that’s _fragile_…oh,” Rodney found himself on his back with a very determined High Lord removing his clothes. “I guess we can, uh, test the rest of the tech later,” he mumbled which quickly turned into a moan as Sheppard bit him right below his collarbone and started licking his way south in a hot trail.

“Really?” John murmured against Rodney’s chest where he scraped his teeth roughly against Rodney’s nipple before pressing down hard with his tongue, smiling in satisfaction at the moan it brought. “Because I could keep testing it. I mean it’s for science and all, right?” he made as if to get off of Rodney and smothered a chuckle when the other man quickly threaded his hands through John’s hair, yanking him back down. John continued working his way downwards enjoying the gasps and mutters coming from the other man and then he froze, not sure if he’d just heard what he was pretty damn sure he’d just heard.

Rodney came up slowly from the haze of High Lord induced lust clouding his senses. “What,” he asked groggily. “Why did you stop?” Stopping was _really not_ acceptable at this point. He blinked in confusion and met narrowed green eyes.

“Did you just call me your Interstellar Overlord _Sex Babe_?!” The voice was raspy and furious and shot straight to Rodney’s groin even as he felt the flutter of panic. Oh shit. He’d said it out loud?

“Uh, no?”

“You did! You just…” John looked like he was caught somewhere between laughing and beating the crap out of Rodney. Since John was a trained soldier and seemed to be scarily competent for a not so evil Overlord, Rodney really, really hoped he decided to go with the former.

“It’s an…endearment?” He offered hopefully.

“It’s really not,” John gritted out through clenched teeth as he glared down at Rodney before quick as lightning Rodney found himself on his stomach, pants being jerked down. Okay, this was bad. This could be very, very…oh Jesus, oh _fuck _this was good. A strangled moan escaped Rodney. Oh, God this was good. Rodney let out what he was pretty sure was a girly whimper as he felt two slick fingers enter him but he was too busy having a brain melt to care.

“Where the fuck did the lube come from?” he moaned out the question, feeling the slick heat penetrating him, opening him up.

“Oh, we Interstellar Overlord Sex Babe types always carry lubricant around with us,” was the sarcastic response which Rodney barely registered because, oh Jesus, a third finger was being added, rough enough to make Rodney hiss a protest against it even as he pushed down against the fingers in an instinctive craving for more. The fingers withdrew and he might have whimpered a protest except that a large hand reached forward and wrapped itself around his dick and, oh yes, okay that was really, really a fair trade; no question. “Oh, Jesus, yes, please, fuck, more, harder, oh John, _fuck_,” and then Rodney pretty much lost the ability to produce coherent words when John’s tongue starting tracing down and into Rodney’s ass, the warm, slick, hot flexible muscle of John’s tongue delving deep even as John’s hand ruthlessly moved up and down Rodney’s dick in an almost too hard steady rhythm.

Rodney felt his brain, his dick, every fucking cell in his body on the verge of exploding and then the bastard shifted his pace, the steady, almost painful grip gentling, becoming teasing fingers, gliding up and down as John nibbled his way down Rodney’s spine, teeth sinking gently into the skin beneath his tailbone and Rodney rediscovered his tongue for the sole purpose of cursing Sheppard for the teasing bastard that he was

“Just trying to live up to my ‘Sex Babe’ reputation,” John said, his voice easy as if he was strolling through a fucking park except there was an undertone, a dark raspy quality that told Rodney his High Lord wasn’t quite as unaffected as he was trying for. Going with that, Rodney reached back blindly and shifting managed to get his hand around Sheppard’s dick and, hah, it was hard and ready and heavy and hearing John’s strangled hiss Rodney snarled “do you really want to keep torturing me or do you want to make your dick happy?”

He felt Sheppard push his hand away and smirk out, voice not nearly so insouciant now, ragged along the edges, “tempting choices both but I’m thinking I’ll go for option two.”

A fleeting moment of smug triumph was all Rodney had time for before Sheppard was pushing deep into him in one relentless thrust and Rodney’s mind went scarily blank, feeling nothing but the pulsing of Sheppard’s cock sending an overload of need through his system; scattering every rational thought. John’s hand was back to being ruthless on Rodney’s own cock and the combination of the dick driving hard and ruthless into him and the hand working him in genius counter rhythm had Rodney screaming out his orgasm even as John was giving a strangled moan of his own, shuddering as he went over the edge with a deep, final thrust into Rodney.

When it was over Rodney and John lay on the bed side by side. Rodney wondered if there was a way to not ever have to move again. And also how many brain cells he’d just lost. Yes, he had way more than pretty much any other person in two galaxies but still…his mind was priceless. He couldn’t keep having mind damaging sex.

Oh, who the fuck was he kidding? For this? He would sacrifice a few brain cells. He’d still be smarter than everyone else.

He heard John huff out a contented sigh and then turn his head and Rodney looked over to meet his gaze. His Interstellar Sex Babe was smirking at him; a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

“Rodney, just so you know? If you ever call me that where another living person can hear you...you will not survive the day.”

“That’s fair.”


	4. Chapter 4

The Stargate was lit up and John sat at the controls of the jumper (he just could _not _think of it as a gate ship), smiling. He’d call this mission an unqualified success. Well, okay, yes, so there had been a few misunderstandings and bumps along the way, but the first treaty between Leiath and Earth had just been signed and now John was going as liaison to help broker a trade agreement between the Earthlings and the Athosians. A first step may have just been taken towards fulfilling a prophecy that called for the final defeat of the Wraith. John didn’t even know if he’d live to see that day or if it would bear fruit far into the future but either way he still felt a gentle awe he would never, ever share with another soul that he was part of this; part of this future.

And he got to fly the jumper which was just…_so_ cool.

“You’re grinning like an idiot you know,” Rodney scowled at John as he stood behind him.

“I’m just happy that we managed to negotiate a treaty between our two peoples,” John said, going for humble.

“Bull shit. You’re just happy you get to fly the gate ship,” John could feel Rodney rolling his eyes behind him.

“Well, that too…” John gave up trying to restrain the grin (although he did restrain the whoop of joy) as the jumper rose, smooth in the air, and then moved down through a hole in the flooring that had opened, descending into the gate room below. The jumper positioned itself before the shimmering gate and John shot a grin back at Rodney while he heard the voice of Elizabeth Weir come through his ear piece. “Gate team, you have a go. Good luck with your mission.”

“Acknowledged,” Ford responded and, after a glance to make sure the rest of the team was secured, turned to grin at Sheppard from his own seat. “Good to go Sheppard.”

“All right then,” John expanded his mind and felt the machine practically _purr _at him as it happily began volunteering just what it could do. All of Atlantis had been doing that more and more over the past few days, as John had gotten more used to the whispers in his mind and begun to experiment with whispering back. Some of it had been amusing; such as shutting that door in Rodney’s face when he’d been nagging John about touching stuff again. Some of it had been awe inspiring, the feeling of something vast and brilliant, slowly waking up to John’s presence.

John was going to have to figure out a tactful way to tell the people of Atlantis that their city seemed to be in love with him.

But he’d save that for another day. _Just fly for now, baby_, he whispered back to it with a mental caress and the ship shot forward, straight as an arrow through the Stargate and into a bright, endless summer day.


End file.
